Participate in this workshop and you will also perform at 11:30pm at AS220 Blackbox on Saturday, September 14th. *

Playing solo or with a partner is great. Playing with a group can also be fun. But what about with twenty-five people or more at the same time? And mostly… Why?

After a bit more than 30 years playing all kinds of shows but mostly the main format played in Québec, there was one thing that kept me going, a simple question: what did I haven’t done in improv until now that I would like to experience? That simple questions single handedly changed my life in the last 10 years. Needless to say that answers pops up in my head regularly. One of those answers was: I would love to play with a whole lot of people at the same time. The next question was how. And now, four years later I’m about to play this show for a fifth time (first time in English) with a bunch of improvisers that I don’t even know.

The workshop is a setup/rehearsal for the show. MASSE (or Mass in English) is a multiple scenes based show where the group called upon to improvise crowd effects. In this workshop we will explore with games, exercices and rehearsing, the subtleties of playing in large groups. From staying active and humble while being part of a grand tableau to sensing where the group is going without having the need to lead. As for the question “why?“ The answer is easy: why not?

*PARTICIPATING IN THE WORKSHOP SHOWCASE DOES NOT ENABLE THE PERFORMER PERKS RECEIVE AS AN ACCEPTED GROUP TO THE FEST.

Frédéric Barbusci is a French-Canadian actor, writer, host, director from Montréal. He started playing improv at the age of 12 in 1987 and never stopped since. He is well known throughout the french improv scene in Quebec and Europe for is work and teachings.

He is the most decorated player of all time of “la LNI“ (National Improv Ligue) where he’s been playing and teaching since 2005. In 2011 he founded a company called Les Productions de L’Instable (prodinstable.com Unstable Productions) who’s main purpose is to explore new ways to play and reach out to others with classes and 12 original shows that have been played in Quebec, Europe and New York. He played and coached at Montréal based la LIM, Cravates, Globale, LicUQÀM, Limonade, Cinplass, Montréal Improv and the list goes on.